The beach
Sometimes our entire family, piled in the station wagon
So exciting on the bridge looking out the car window
It seemed like we were racing the train crossing over the river
into Point Pleasant Beach
Loved cloudy days when our whole family would go including daddy
The beach was ours to run and play
To be overseen by gigantic lifeguards ready to save us
Under the wooden umbrellas with all my brothers and sisters we ate donuts
Thrilling excitement of two piece bath suits for my sisters and I
sun screen ad, dog tugging the bottom of the little girls suit in the pavilion
Airplanes flying banners in the sky on sunny days
Grandpa wearing his straw hat seeing that the beach was clean, jobs done
We buried each other, my oldest brother dug huge holes, fought, laughed
Played chicken in the surf, such fun it did not matter if we were freezing
tumbled getting up scraped from the shells, full of sand in our swimsuits
As we grew, we could walk to the jetty alone just my siblings and I
Showers so cold, mom made us wash the sand out of our hair
At the soda fountain, we would spin on stools, sneak sugar cubes and pickles
When lucky, have a cheese burger, french fries and a chocolate milk shake
When no one was looking, we would play in the phone booth and on the scale
our whole family walked north to see the beach train,us kids ran
Sometimes we got to play skee ball and get a few pieces of penny candy
Maybe even go on a ride and get ice cream
Grandpa always gave us a box of saltwater taffy with a real postcard on top
Sometimes my older sister and I got to stay with my grandparents
Usually it was my brothers who got to make money during summers
It was as teenagers that my sister and I got to serve with syrup and soda water
We were not allowed on the boardwalk, too much rift-raft
We picked up flounder, grandma taught me to bread and fry fish,
never lobsters, nuisances stuck in nets, were dinner during her childhood
The riverboat restaurant, so wanted to go, the idea had seemed glamorous
Burnt down before I was old enough for my grandparents to take me
Things have changed since I was a little girl
Things change Yet the beach
holds onto something that stays in our hearts
giving us pictures in our minds of people we have loved